Launch From India: Canada Satellite Seeks Asteroids & Space Junk

Suitcase-Size Satellite Launching Monday to Hunt Asteroids

An artist's illustration of the NEOSSat asteroid-hunting satellite in Earth orbit. The Canadian Space Agency mission will search for large asteroids near Earth and track space debris.CREDIT: Canadian Space Agency

A small Canadian satellite launching from India on Monday (Feb. 25) will be the first spacecraft specifically designed to search for large asteroids and monitor space junk in the solar system.

The Canadian Space Agency's Near-Earth Object Surveillance Satellite, or NEOSSat, will seek out and track huge space rocks orbiting the sun from its position in Earth orbit, its builders say. The satellite will also track space debris and satellites still in service in Earth's orbit, splitting time between its two missions.

"The project with the CSA is essentially to survey the sky and get the best, improved near-Earth asteroid population and the ones that can sometimes cross Earth orbit," said Denis Laurin, a CSA space astronomy program scientist working on the NEOSSat mission.